Please send questions to: Car Audio and Electronics, c/o Tech Panel774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870 e-mail: techpanel@mcmullenargus.com
I need help on a Kenwood connection. I bought a Kenwood 5.1 car system model KDS-P900. I would like to use an RCA type "Y" on the subwoofer out channel to get more power on bridgeable power. Is that possible to do that through my amp (Vega 12000)? You always give good tips and excellent answers.Victor GarciaAvenal, CA
Recently, I completed training a group of veteran installers from Kenwood Excelon retailers across the U.S. During my course preparation I had the opportunity to put various Kenwood products through several "torture tests." As far as I'm concerned, there is a lot that you can do with your P900 (including donating it to me)!
If your goal is to increase the amount of bass from your system, you can use a Y adapter on the single subwoofer RCA output and connect it to two bridged amplifiers. If you plan to stay with Vega for amplification, you will want to buy another of the same model in order to keep things matched. Once installed, you should run a test tone into the two amplifiers and set the gain controls on both amplifiers so that they are producing as close to the same output voltage as possible. This can be measured with a basic DMM.
In a 5.1 surround system, the midbass is also very important. Too much deep bass without the higher frequency cues will lead to an unrealistic video experience. For instance, an explosion is made up of two major sonic components: the "attack" of the initial explosion that comes from the midbass drivers and the "sustain" of the reverberant boom from the subs that hangs on for a while. Spend some tweaking time to get the right balance between all frequencies.
I am trying to build an SQ system and have a few questions: Would it be a good idea to use a 6.5" component system up front with a 5.25" component system for rear fill? Does the number of subs matter when building an SQ system? I've heard that I should use one sub to produce an extra clean sound, but no more than two. Is this true? Can you suggest some brands of amps that I can use for my mids/highs and which brand for my lows? Thanks for your help.Name WithheldAugusta, GA
Sound Quality or SQ systems are a careful balance of elements from the software you play to the experience of the judge. For high SPL, the underlying rule is "more is better", but in sound quality the rule is "less is more".
Each speaker you install will have its own "origin" that experienced listeners can identify and locate. As a result, the more speakers you have, the more origins there will be. A real musical performer will have only one origin, so the goal would be to have the fewest speakers possible that will still cover all the frequencies and all channels (which is two for stereo). For example, the most accurate home audio systems have only two drivers in total. The Quad ESL 63, nicknamed "F.R.E.D's (Full Range Electrostatic Dipoles) have been the mainstay speaker for decades as a high performance reference. It is made of only one pair of electrostatic panels that run on around 20,000 volts. Compared to car audio, a typical front speaker set is made up of three pairs (2 tweeters, 2 mids and 2 woofers) and could never hope to come close to ESL 63's. Less is more.
This means that your idea of adding "rear fill" speakers is probably at least four drivers too many. Rear fill is the same thing as "anti front stage" which is one of the main goals. The louder your rear fill speakers play, the more your soundstage migrates to the back seat - not a good thing! Rear speakers turned off yield the best possible front soundstage. The only way that rear speakers should be used is with a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or some type of delay to cause the rear speakers to add a tiny bit of ambience.